A New Tomorrow: The Silverchair Story

It's taken Daniel Johns a long time to be able to make such a simple statement. Having spent more than 10 years as the frontman for Silverchair, Australia's biggest rock band of the past decade, he's endured teen stardom, depression, anorexia, crippling reactive arthritis and the slings and arrows of the music industry, only to emerge, tattooed and renewed. A NEW TOMORROW tells the complete and unexpurgated story of Silverchair. Jeff Apter documents how Johns and his two schoolmates, drummer Ben Gillies and bassman Chris Joannou, graduated from the loft above the Gillies' family garage to centrestage of Madison Square Garden, all within the time it typically takes most bands to record their first single. When the dust settled and they discovered their debut album, Frogstomp, had sold almost three million copies, Silverchair were faced with an even bigger challenge, as they attempted to prove they were much more than 'Nirvana In Pyjamas'. With the release of their 2002 masterpiece, Diorama, Silverchair firmly established their own musical identity, while Johns has developed into a songwriter with few peers in modern music. Featuring exclusive interviews with the band and all of those who have worked with Silverchair over their rollercoaster ride of a career, A NEW TOMORROW covers all of the band members' solo work, the Johns/Imbruglia nuptials, the band's "rebirth" at the WaveAid fundraiser, and a rundown of their latest hit Young Modern.

High Voltage is the first biography to focus exclusively on Angus. It tells of his remarkable rise from working-class Glasgow and Sydney to the biggest stages in the world. The youngest of eight kids, Angus always seemed destined for a life in music, and it was his passion and determination that saw AC/DC become hard rock’s greatest act. Over the years, Angus has endured the devastating death of iconic vocalist Bon Scott, the forced retirement of his brother in arms, Malcolm Young, and more recently the loss from the band of singer Brian Johnson and drummer Phil Rudd. Yet somehow the little guitar maestro has kept AC/DC not just on the rails, but at the top of the rock pile. Must be those big balls . . .

I launched the book at the Thirroul Writers Festival on August 25 and spoke with AC/DC photographer Philip Morris at Rockdale Library on September 5. You can read an extract of High Voltagehere and also read a review from the Daily Review and from Sydney's Daily Telegraph. I'm being interviewed here on Channel 9's Today Extra. I spoke with Nick Bennett at Talking Lifestyle about High Voltage, Bern Young at ABC Gold Coast and Andrew O'Keefe at Weekend Sunrise. Here's a piece I wrote about Angus for the Guardian. High Voltage also topped the independent publisher bestseller list on its week of release — it's a #1! Here are details for the aduio book edition of High Voltage.